The 2014 World Cup is upon us, and we bet that there is a good chance you’re still scrambling to finish filling in that piece of paper you’re going to submit to the office pool. With 32 teams in the field, playing over 60 games throughout the tournament, sifting out a clear winner is tough by anyone’s standards – just look at how much variance there was in our collection of experts picks for the 2014 World Cup.
Well, that’s why we’re here – to make life easier for you. Below, you’ll see all our predictions of all the games in the tournament from the opening Brazil-Croatia match right up to the final. But before you dive straight into our predictions, you can join our World Cup contest here, where all you have to do is answer four quick questions to have a chance of winning $500!
If you’re the type that is still looking for the World Cup bracket to fill out, scroll to the bottom – we’ve got one there you can right click and save.
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Complete World Cup Pool Picks – Game-by-Game Predictions
The games begin with an interesting match between host Brazil and Croatia, two teams we predict to represent Group A in the next round. Though the Croats will offer Brazil some measure of resistance, the host nation’s team would plow through them, just as it would against the rest of its group mates.
[sc:Soccer240banner ]Don’t expect Brazil, which is priced +300 to win it all, to be eliminated in any phase of the tournament. We’ll tell you now: we are picking the Brazilians to become the newest World Cup champions. If you’re looking for a group favorite to get beat by an underdog, look to Group D and H, where we have a couple of favorites picking up a loss in the first round. In Group D, we picked England defeating Uruguay, while we see Russia upsetting Belgium in Group H.
Predictions for Every Game of the World Cup Group Stage
Date
Location
Teams
Outcome
June 12, 2014
Sao Paulo
Brazil vs. Croatia
Brazil 3-1
June 13, 2014
Natal
Mexico vs. Cameroon
Mexico 2-1
June 13, 2014
Salvador
Spain vs. Netherlands
Spain 3-1
June 13, 2014
Cuiaba
Chile vs. Australia
Chile 3-0
June 14, 2014
Belo Horizonte
Colombia vs. Greece
Colombia 2-1
June 14, 2014
Recife
Ivory Coast vs. Japan
Draw 1-1
June 14, 2014
Fortaleza
Uruguay vs. Costa Rica
Uruguay 1-0
June 14, 2014
Manaus
England vs. Italy
Draw 1-1
June 15, 2014
Brasilia
Switzerland vs. Ecuador
Switzerland 1-0
June 15, 2014
Porto Alegre
France vs. Honduras
France 3-1
June 15, 2014
Rio de Janeiro
Argentina vs. Bosnia And Herzegovina
Argentina 4-1
June 16, 2014
Curitiba
Iran vs. Nigeria
Nigeria 2-0
June 16, 2014
Salvador
Germany vs. Portugal
Portugal 2-1
June 16, 2014
Natal
Ghana vs. United States
Ghana 1-0
June 17, 2014
Fortaleza
Brazil vs. Mexico
Brazil 2-0
June 17, 2014
Belo Horizonte
Belgium vs. Algeria
Belgium 2-0
June 17, 2014
Cuiaba
Russia vs. Korea Republic
Russia 1-0
June 18, 2014
Manaus
Cameroon vs. Croatia
Croatia 2-1
June 18, 2014
Rio de Janeiro
Spain vs. Chile
Spain 2-1
June 18, 2014
Porto Alegre
Australia vs. Netherlands
Netherlands 2-0
June 19, 2014
Brasilia
Colombia vs. Ivory Coast
Draw 1-1
June 19, 2014
Natal
Japan vs. Greece
Japan 1-0
June 19, 2014
Sao Paulo
Uruguay vs. England
England 1-0
June 20, 2014
Salvador
Switzerland vs. France
Draw 1-1
June 20, 2014
Curitiba
Honduras vs. Ecuador
Honduras 1-0
June 20, 2014
Recife
Italy vs. Costa Rica
Italy 1-0
June 21, 2014
Belo Horizonte
Argentina vs. Iran
Argentina 4-0
June 21, 2014
Cuiaba
Nigeria vs. Bosnia And Herzegovina
Nigeria 2-1
June 21, 2014
Fortaleza
Germany vs. Ghana
Germany 2-0
June 22, 2014
Manaus
United States vs. Portugal
Portugal 2-0
June 22, 2014
Rio de Janeiro
Belgium vs. Russia
Russia 1-0
June 22, 2014
Porto Alegre
Korea Republic vs. Algeria
Korea Republic 2-1
June 23, 2014
Brasilia
Cameroon vs. Brazil
Brazil 2-1
June 23, 2014
Recife
Croatia vs. Mexico
Draw 1-1
June 23, 2014
Curitiba
Australia vs. Spain
Spain 3-1
June 23, 2014
Sao Paulo
Netherlands vs. Chile
Netherlands 1-0
June 24, 2014
Curitiba
Japan vs. Colombia
Colombia 1-0
June 24, 2014
Fortaleza
Greece vs. Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, 2-1
June 24, 2014
Natal
Italy vs. Uruguay
Draw 1-1
June 24, 2014
Belo Horizonte
Costa Rica vs. England
England 3-1
June 25, 2014
Manaus
Honduras vs. Switzerland
Draw 1-1
June 25, 2014
Rio de Janeiro
Ecuador vs. France
France 2-0
June 25, 2014
Porto Alegre
Nigeria vs. Argentina
Argentina 3-1
June 25, 2014
Salvador
Bosnia And Herzegovina vs. Iran
Draw 0-0
June 26, 2014
Recife
United States vs. Germany
Germany 2-0
June 26, 2014
Brasilia
Portugal vs. Ghana
Portugal 1-0
June 26, 2014
Sao Paulo
Korea Republic vs. Belgium
Belgium 3-0
June 26, 2014
Curitiba
Algeria vs. Russia
Russia 2-0
Group Winners
When it comes to group winners, the World Cup is often a tournament that anoints its favorites. Below, you’ll see we tapped the young English side to slip by Italy on goals for and against, but there are few other surprises here.
Group
Winner
Runner-up
A
Brazil
Croatia
B
Spain
Netherlands
C
Colombia
Japan
D
Uruguay
England
E
France
Switzerland
F
Argentina
Nigeria
G
Germany
Portugal
H
Belgium
Russia
Second Round Predictions
In the second round, we have Brazil continuing on its path to the World Cup title, beating Group E top team, France. If you agree with us that Brazil will win the World Cup, then you can back it up with a bet, simply by creating a betting account.
Other marquee matchups in this round would be a tussle between Germany and Russia, and a game pitting Belgium and Portugal head-to-head.
See our predictions of those matches, along with how we see the rest of the tournament to unfold in the tables below. We’ve already told you Brazil as our selection to become the 2014 World Cup champion. But which team will challenge them in the final, according to our crystal ball?
Round
Teams
Winner
Round of 16
Brazil vs. Netherlands
Brazil
Round of 16
Colombia vs. England
Colombia
Round of 16
France vs. Nigeria
France
Round of 16
Germany vs. Russia
Germany
Round of 16
Spain vs. Croatia
Spain
Round of 16
Uruguay vs. Japan
Uruguay
Round of 16
Argentina vs. Switzerland
Argentina
Round of 16
Belgium vs. Portugal
Portugal
Quarterfinals Predictions
In the quarters, there are some all-time juicy matchups. Brazil-Colombia could push excitement in the continent of South America to a breaking point. France-Germany dusts up historical flashbacks any time it comes across a schedule, and this year both teams have high-powered kits capable of going all the way.
Round
Teams
Winner
Quarterfinal
Brazil vs. Colombia
Brazil
Quarterfinal
Spain vs. Uruguay
Spain
Quarterfinal
France vs. Germany
France
Quarterfinal
Argentina vs. Portugal
Argentina
Semifinals
Spain vs. Argentina is the game soccer fans have been looking forward to since the World Cup draws were announced. Very likely to be a semifinal match up, this game would pit the two biggest tournament favorites against one another. Meanwhile, if France makes it this far, they will have found their limit: Brazil is on another level.
Round
Teams
Winner
Semifinal
Brazil vs. France
Brazil
Semifinal
Spain vs. Argentina
Spain
World Cup Final
The World Cup Final rarely disappoints, and this one certainly wouldn’t.
Round
Teams
Winner
Final
Brazil vs. Spain
Brazil
So there you have it – all the winners for every game in the tournament. If you’re looking for more detail on any of the teams, groups, or players mentioned above, our World Cup section has breakdowns of all those things and more, including features like our countdown of the hottest women in Brazil.
Update: our 2014 World Cup Bracket is below. Click it to expand it in your browser and then right click and select “Save As” to download.
